雙語財經新聞 第81期:名人的第一份工作(1)
Clint Black — The Newspaper Solicitor
When I was 14，I was hired for an after-school job selling subscriptions1 to my Hometown paper, the Houston Post I was sent to some of the city’s worst neighborhoods to solicit2 door-to-door. Even though I was often scrambling around after dark in bad areas searching for garage apartments, I was grateful for the work.
14歲的時候，我得到了一份放學後的零工——爲我家鄉的報紙《休斯頓郵報》 推銷訂單。我被派去向城裏一些最難對付的住戶挨家挨戶地徵求訂單。即使常常要 在天黑之後到治安混亂的地區去尋找那些帶車庫的公寓，但我仍然對得到這份工 作心存感激。It was a challenge because people didn’t like a stranger knocking on their door, especially a kid trying to get them to buy something. One time, a man slammed his door in my face and screamed, “I don’t want no damn paper.” I forced myself to knock again and was able to tell him how great the paper was. I ended up selling him a subscription. I was soon among the top subscription sellers and, like other successful salesmen, was given responsibility for training newcomers.
這是一項挑戰,因爲人們不喜歡一個陌生人來敲自己的房門,尤其是一個試圖 讓他們買東西的孩子。有一次，一個男人在我面前“砰”的一聲吳上了門並尖叫道: “我不想訂什麼該死的報紙。”我強迫自己再次敲他的門,告訴他這是一份多麼精彩 的報紙。最後，他簽了一份訂單。我很快就躋身於高銷量訂單推銷員之列,並像其他 成功的銷售員一樣，開始負責培訓新人。
Around this time I started playing the harmonica3 and guitar. Before long I was playing in a band at chili cook-offs and other events. When I turned 18, I focused my attention on becoming a professional musician. I never lost sight of this dream. I’m sure my perseverance came from what I learned knocking on strangers’ doors.
在此期間,我開始演奏口琴和吉他。不久之後，我就加入了一支樂隊，在辣椒烹 飪比賽和其他活動中表演。18歲的時候，我開始致力於成爲一名職業音樂人。我從 沒有忘記過這個夢想。我相信，這種堅定不移的精神就是我在學會敲開陌生人的房 門的過程中形成的。That experience helped me in many ways. Early in my music career I was locked in a legal dispute with a former manager. He pressured me to back off, but I refused.
那種經歷在許多方面都對我非常有益。在我音樂生涯的初期，我曾糾纏於與一 位前任經紀人的法律爭議之中。他強迫我離開，但我拒絕了。Having all those doors slammed in my face as a kid gave me the strength to stand up to this intimidating figure. Except this time there was one difference: I was the one saying no. And I won.
所有那些吃閉門羹的經歷給了我力量，使我能夠勇敢地與這個威脅我的人對 抗。只有這一次不同:我是那個說“不”的人。我贏了。Louis Caldera — The Parking-Lot Sweeper
路易斯·卡爾——停車場漓潔員Both my parents came from towns in Mexico. I was born in El Paso, Texas, and when I was four, my family moved to a housing project in East Los Angeles.
我的父母都來自墨西哥的小鎮。我出生在得克薩斯州的埃爾帕索市,在我4歲的時候,我們全家搬到了洛杉磯東部的一個住宅區。Even though we struggled to make ends meet, my parents stressed to me and my four brothers and sisters how fortunate we were to live in a great country with limitless opportunities. They imbued in us the concepts of family, faith and
儘管我們掙扎度日，勉強維持收支平衡，但我的父母仍然對我和我的4個兄弟 姐妹強調我們多麼幸運，能夠生活在一個充滿無限機遇的偉大國家裏。他們向我們灌輸家庭、信念和愛國精神的觀念。I got my first real job when I was ten. My dad, Benjamin, injured his back working in a cardboard-box factory and was retrained as a hairstylist. He rented space in a little strip mall and gave his shop the fancy name of Mr. Ben’s Coiffure.
10歲的時候，我得到了第一份真正的工作。我的父親本傑明在一家紙箱廠工作的時候，後背受傷了，他學習成爲一名美髮師。他在一條商業小街上租了一個地方，給自己的店鋪起了一個奇特的名字本先生髮型店。The owner of the shopping center gave Dad a discount on his rent for cleaning the parking lot three nights a week, which meant getting up at 3a.m. To pick up trash, Dad used a little machine that looked like a lawn mower. Mom and I emptied garbage cans and picked up litter by hand. It took two to three hours to clean the lot. I’d sleep in the car on the way home.
商業街的業主在租金上給爸爸打了折,條件是每週3個晚上清理停車場，那就 意味着要在凌晨3點起牀。爸爸用一部看上去像割草機一樣的機器來收垃圾；我和媽媽傾倒垃圾桶，用手來檢垃圾。清理這個停車場需要用2至3個小時。在回家的路 上，我睡在車上。I did this for two years, but the lessons I learned have lasted a lifetime. I acquired discipline and a strong work ethic, and learned at an early age the importance of balancing life’s competing interests — in my case, school, Homework and a job. This really helped during my senior year of high school, when I worked 40 hours a week flipping burgers at a fast-food joint while taking a full load of college-prep courses.
這個工作我做了兩年,但學到的東西卻使我受益一生。我養成了自律性和堅定 的工作道德,並小小年紀就懂得了在有衝突的生活利益我自己的事情、學校、 家務和工作之間掌握平衡的重要性。在我中學的最後一年期間，這真的對我有很大 幫助，當時我正在學習全部大學預科課程，準備考大學,與此同時，我每週還要工作 40個小時，在一家快餐連鎖店做漢堡。The hard work paid off. I attended the U.S. Military Academy and went on to receive graduate degrees in law and business from Harvard. Later, I joined a big Los Angeles law firm and was elected to the California state assembly. In these jobs and in everything else I’ve done, I have never forgotten those nights in the parking lot. The experience taught me that there is dignity in all work and that if people are working to provide for themselves and their families, that is something we should honor.
艱苦的努力獲利了豐厚的回報。我考上了美國陸軍軍官學校，繼而取得了哈佛 大學的法律和商業碩士學位。後來，我進人了洛杉磯一家很大的法律公司，並當選 爲加州議員。在做這些工作以及其他任何事情的時候，我從未忘記過清理停車場的 那些夜晚。那次經歷使我懂得,所有的工作都有尊嚴，只要是自食其力、能夠養家糊 口的人，都應該受到我們的尊敬。
